What informs your position on gun issues?

President Obama has outlined his plan for reducing gun violence in the United States in response to several recent shooting incidents, including the December attack in Newtown, Conn. The president called on Congress to strengthen the background-check system for gun owners, restore a ban on military-style assault weapons and create a 10-round limit for magazines.

In addition, he said his administration will act on its own to better enforce existing gun laws and improve the ways federal law enforcement agencies communicate with each other.

Whether you support President Obama’s proposals on this issue or not — or maybe you’re still struggling with how you feel about them — your story can be part of this conversation, one that is civil and honest.

Our hunch is that people come to their ideas about guns less through the arguments of politicians and more through their own experience and the stories they hear from people they know. So we’re asking for your stories. We ask that you leave opinion and accusations at the door and just tell the real, personal experience that guides your thinking on this issue.

If you hunt or shoot guns recreationally, we’d like to know how that affects your views. If you’ve witnessed firsthand the effects of gun violence, please share your story. If your family or friends have shaped your views, let us know.

Anna Weggel is a Public Insight Analyst, which means she spends her time crafting questions about upcoming story topics to send to sources in the Public Insight Network and then produces web, audio and video content featuring those sources.

Before finding her home at APM in 2008, Anna received her B.A. in journalism, was the editor in chief of The Minnesota Daily, and internship hopped through Mother Jones, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Pioneer Press, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and the Downtown Journal. Anna's non-work life is held hostage by the stage -- where she performs improv comedy and shows with her lady bluegrass band.